Jupp Heynckes decided Bastian Schweinsteiger wasn’t fit enough to start – he was on the bench. Luiz Gustavo played in the middle with Toni Kroos ahead, Philipp Lahm switched to right-back, with David Alaba on the left.

Basel started off pressing high in the first five minutes, but then retreated into a deep shape with two banks of four behind the ball.

Basel leave two up

The final scoreline makes Vogel’s tactics look ridiculous, but there was some level of logic to his decisions here. The most notable feature of the first half was that Basel left both strikers high up the pitch. Marco Streller played upfront, and Alexander Frei drifted off, often to the left.

Usually, a manager would instruct one of the strikers to drop into the midfield onto Gustavo to help Basel out when they didn’t have the ball. Vogel didn’t bother, however, which meant the two Bayern holders had all the time on the ball they liked to dominate possession after Basel’s initial press had died down.

However, it did make some kind of sense. Basel wanted to play quickly on the break, and by leaving two strikers up, they could clear the ball downfield and get a 2 v 2 situation at the back. A couple of times towards the end of the first half, they created decent half-chances. The downside was that Bayern would dominate the ball, but then Vogel would have accepted that before the game anyway.

Defensively, the problem wasn’t the formation, but the fact the centre-backs both had awful games, and Bayern’s wingers were on fire. Some defences can defend more than capably with four players in front protecting them, but Basel let Mario Gomez have countless opportunities.

The problem offensively was the transitions from defence to attack. It’s reasonable to play two men high up the pitch and ask Fabian Frei and Xherdan Shaqiri to carry the ball when Basel broke up moves – that’s their natural game – but neither did so well, and Basel’s first pass out of defence was very poor and handed possession back to Bayern.

Bayern wide players

Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben were fantastic. Robben’s display was more impressive, because he drove Bayern forward when the score was 0-0 and 1-0, whereas Ribery did much of his good work at 3-0 and 4-0.

Robben’s positioning here was excellent. Often he stays wide, hugs the touchline to get space to receive the ball, then ducks inside and dribbles from there. He, here started much narrower and essentially played between four Basel players – Lee, Dragovic, Frei and Xhaka. When Basel pushed men forward, he reverted to being a traditional winger.

Part of Basel’s problem was that Fabian Frei had been told to help out Lee and double up, but Robben’s highness and narrowness made this difficult – Frei then played very narrow on the left himself, which simply opened up space for Lahm to motor into (although this did open up space for Alexander Frei higher up).

Robben’s movement was excellent, and varied. He could come inside into a number ten position, or burst between Dragovic and Lee to get in behind to pick up through-balls. This was where Basel’s numerical disadvantage in midfield did come into play, as they often couldn’t close down Kroos without opening up space elsewhere.

Ribery and Gomez looked great once Bayern were in control, but Robben was the man who gave them that control.

Conclusion

Bayern were excellent at times – brave enough to keep four men upfront at times, and also in leaving 2 v 2 at the back. They enjoyed the freedom of the midfield, and spread the ball intelligently from side to side.

Vogel’s overall approach wasn’t as ludicrous as the result makes it seem – but Basel’s penalty box defending was terrible, and the poor transitions meant the ball kept coming back at them. That’s a combination ripe for a thrashing.

Referring to Bayern’s 7-1 win over Hoffenheim at the weekend, Vogel said: “The margin of victory does not impress me. I have absolutely no fear that Bayern will score seven goals in one game [against us].” Oh dear…

typical Bayern home game this season. they score early and then the floodgates open up. This way Gomez looks way better because he (along with his Bayern mates) is much more comfortable the more space he is afforded.
When opponents are able to bunker in, then Gomez along with the whole Bayern squad look very awkward. That is mostly because of Gomez’ poor movement outside the box.

Easy to say in hindsight but I think Vogel should have opted for a deep compact defense. Bayern have had big difficulties opening up such defenses. Basel also had a goal to spare. And Bayern are susceptible to the counter attack. In Particular when Kroos is playing as a holder.

Cogito on March 14, 2012 at 3:40 am

Gomez is surprisingly fast I think. If Bayern had the luxury of playing on the counter all the time he would look better (he runs like a train thanks to his physique). My brother was pointing out that Gomez, whilst fairly good in the air isn’t nearly as good a jumper as closer, in fact, his headed goals are mostly undmarked, but because of his mobility when the area isn’t completely packed he finds headers and scores them. Of course on counters he would be good at this. Unfortunately he doesn’t add much against really deep defensive teams.

hwk on March 14, 2012 at 8:11 am

When he was playing for Stuttgart, he was a classic counter attacking striker. That of course was a problem when he moved to Bayern, because under van Gaal and in a team that wins the league every other season it’s not normal to play on the counter from minute one.
But it was good to see him learn how to do better with the back to the goal or linking up with his team mates. Only problem, some games he needs too many chances.

Tim on March 14, 2012 at 6:40 pm

Just imagine he improves his header and efficiency. He will score 40 goals a season.

hwk on March 14, 2012 at 7:42 pm

Maybe. Maybe it’s just about concentration and getting the ball in good positions.

I would say Gomez’s movement is one of his best attributes, he always finds space in the penalty area by losing his markers and is a good finisher. It is more his build up play that sucks, its like playing with 10 men as he rarely drops deep and helps out. He also looks poor if he isn’t supported, he isn’t one of those players that can just make things happen, he needs good service or is particularly useless.

But if your team is dominating, I couldn’t think of a better player to have as your striker right now.

hwk on March 14, 2012 at 10:47 am

I think his build up play was much worse two years ago. but, of course he is not a perfect passer.
He’s more like a classic striker, often makes the “easy” goals (one touch, depending on good assits), and he’s great at counter attacks. But some games he doesn’t make the goal from inside the six yard box. Great finisher? changes from day to day.

He can miss some great chances. But generally he is a great finisher, he wouldn’t score so many goals each season if he didn’t. He seems to me to be one of the few classical finishers left in the game.

hwk on March 14, 2012 at 1:22 pm

Yes, he’s a classic striker. If he would score as much as he could, he often would score 3 or 4 a game and 40 a seaso in the league.

But it depends on the assits from the team.

To be fair, even Messi and Ronaldo don’t make every chance. Real Madrid last Champions League Season was one of the top teams, that shot the most. and Ronaldo (last season, don’t know this one) was trying too hard, shooting too often and maybe too early.

sif on March 13, 2012 at 10:34 pm

I believe the Basel full-back’s name is Park, not Lee.

Lyri Caris on March 13, 2012 at 10:50 pm

I have a question according the Fourfourtwo.com stats. Are crosses included in those passing diagrams? Because I’m sure that Lahm had allot of crosses and most of them were terrible. I just want to know so I’ll know it on the next diagram

And how would you rate Bayern when it comes to chances going further into the tournament? I actually would rate their chances as good as Milan’s behind Real and Barca. I don’t see another club winning this year at the moment besides Barca, Real, Milan and Bayern (and Bayern and Milan are allready very unlikely)

In that game I found the positioning of Müller and Robben particulary interesting. As you mentioned Robben played as a number ten or as a second striker at times. I think this was the first time I saw Robben play in that role for Bayern to be honest. And it worked brilliantly aspecially because Müller is so terrific when it comes to positioning so they never got into their way.
Also I like Lahm alot better on the right. Even though his crossing is pretty poor he just looks more natural on the right especially at defence.

Cogito on March 14, 2012 at 3:54 am

This has been a recent change tactically implemented in the last couple of weeks, as a response to the impossibility of the Hinrunde tactic using the Lahm-Schweinsteiger-Kroos-Ribery quadrangle because of Schweinsteiger’s injury and Robben’s return to fitness combined with poor form.

As far as Bayern’s chances, though I would love us to win, I consider us third-favourites. Our home form is excellent and as good as any other side, but away from home there has been many inadequate performances. Considerably better than Milan, though.

In a head to head – Milan are vulnerable to good wingers, and Ribery and Robben are the finest set of wingers any team has today. Gomez would also likely fancy himself against a team lacking a formation which would double up on his supply lines. With a fit Schweinsteiger, I’m not sure Milan’s numbers in midfield would give them control (admittedly, a friendly, was played in preseason and Bayern dominated the ball), plus the unaccounted for attacking fullbacks.

Bayern may be fairly even to rivals Madrid if they can recover their earlier form, though they would still be underdogs to Barcelona (though such a tie would be one for the purists, the two best passing/possession sides on the continent, the quality of a Clasico without the hatred).

Personally, I would like a draw against APOEL, Marseille, Benfica, Napoli/Chelsea, or CSKA were they to pull the upset tomorrow. Rather avoid the other three remaining “big” clubs till a semi-final. Bayern’s biggest enemy is themselves, but a gateway to the home final would hopefully sate the inconsistencies.

blahblah on March 13, 2012 at 10:51 pm

Can Manchester United consider themselves lucky by not having to face this?

Joe90 on March 14, 2012 at 12:14 am

Fergs would simply blame the refs.

Cogito on March 14, 2012 at 6:29 pm

He already did, remember?

vilkkuvajuti on March 13, 2012 at 10:57 pm

It was interesting to see Basel defenders – mainly Park – systematically forcing Robben inside, encouracing him to use his stronger foot which was exactly what he was willing to do.

Cogito on March 14, 2012 at 4:00 am

Didn’t Mourinho sort of do this? In the CL Final Robben was neutralized by Chivu showing him inside towards the right-footed (i.e. inverted) Zanetti in holding midfield, allowing Robben to be negated by a “wrong footed” DM (specially changed, since normally Cambiasso played the left of the holding midfield pair). Though of course Basel didn’t really have a Zanetti.

Mourinho also tried the “leave two up” gambit with Sneijder and Milito. In the CL Final Inter basically played a good old fashioned defensive 4-4-2 from the 4-2-3-1 shape with the counter-attacking threat provided primarily from the central pair, as opposed to wingers as is more common with “4-5-1″ variants.

afriqdusud on March 14, 2012 at 5:51 am

“Make play predictable”, this way Park didn’t have to guess which way Robben was going to dribble and had the comfort of knowing that he had support on the inside, as a result Robben only managed to have a strike only once in the whole game when he cut inside.

hwk on March 14, 2012 at 8:15 am

to be fair, often it is “easy” to control Robben because he does so often the same move.

two games and 14 goals (+ one own goal). Bayern should not forget the “crisis” (poor performances, no results), they have been in a week ago.

FSP on March 13, 2012 at 11:00 pm

Is there anything like the fourfourtwo app for Android? Would love that…

Hi to all who watched the game – entertaining but too one-sided. The first leg was such a great display by Basel. Tonight’s match was a disappointment. I think the article points out quite well that (1) Basel’s defending was horrendous, and (2) when they got the ball, they could not muster an attack and simply gave the ball away. Shaquiri had a bad game, but overall I’m impressed by his performances in the CL, apparently the buzz is not without reason.

1/ Both fullbacks were excellent getting forward and stretching the game, this more than anything allowed the wingers to have excellent games themselves. They also allowed Bayern to dominate by giving the midfield an option at all times.

2/ Kroos was given too much space to dominate in midfield, spaying passes out from wing to wing, and circulating possession easily. But he also added that much needed creativity from deep, playing quite a few key passes and quick direct balls to the forward players.

3/ The Bayern wingers were fantastic, both moving into great attacking positions and providing big threats. They both moved into central positions at times and it seemed extremely hard for Basil’s players to track both of them.

4/ Most of Mueller’s best work came off the ball, as his constant movement open up space for the wingers to move inside and wreak havoc. This was a good move, as the central attacking midfielder, he had two holding midfielders up against him, so needed to drag them out of position to create space rather than try and dictate the game from that position.

5/ I’m not a big fan of Mario Gomez as I dont think he does enough in a game to be called a great, with nearly all his work going on in the penalty area. But today, this was all that was needed as Bayern could dominate the ball without him and he just focused on gaining space in front of goal, as his movements are excellent he could get into some great goal scoring positions.

Nice analysis, as always. Basel was brave, but a little bit too brave.
As a Bayern Munich fan I am of course happy about the game, but i have to blame the coach of Basel, that he did not get his full backs to defend against Robben. As you could see with one of his very good chances at 0:0 he doesn´t really use his right foot even if he has to.
He will always charge to the centre, you could build up a tent there and he will still try to do this. He had a very nice game of course, but his style is much too obvious to do nothing about it. Teams like Gladbach and Dortmund did it right, they forced him wide to get the ball or he had to retreat and pass back.
Gomez had a great game too, no doubt with 4 goals, but for me he still is a weaker part in Bayerns formation. Today we broke through and he got the assists he needs, but if the other team has good penalty box defending and his supply is cut off, he hasn´t got anything to contribute to the game. He is only one for the last touch and wasnt there an article of yours, that the “pure” goal scorer is dying out?
His movement away from the box and ball handling are so bad its embarrassing.
Let´s see, who Bayern is up against next, I want to see them in good form against a great team and see, what they can do, because in my opinion a lot of parts in our team are just average.

Spassapparat on March 14, 2012 at 7:49 am

agree on the gomez part..

its kinda funny that basel cb dragovic made fun of gomez’ footballing skills only to receive 4 goals of him, yet remain basically right about the nature of many gomez goals (2/4 in this match)

Karl on March 14, 2012 at 6:58 pm

Superficial analysis, sorry.

Both Bayern wingers are very strong when provided with space. It wouldn’t make sense for Gomez to run into the gaps because 1) Müller is already there and 2) he would drag the defense into the gaps needed for the wingers. His job is to bind the central defenders into the middle to open up space for Robbery.

So his positioning in the middle makes perfect sense for Bayern. But for his game it is essential that both wingers stretch the defence and have a good game in general.

D on March 14, 2012 at 2:13 am

Somehow, another commenter has miswritten 5 paragraphs of regurgitated analysis and a plug for his blog instead of “I agree – nice job.” In the comment section of every edition. I will continue to not visit the blog advertised, but I’ll keep visiting Thanks!

Harsh, I agree here most of my stuff had already been said (tho I thought I made a good point about Mueller that wasn’t said) but usually I like to think I add something relevant to the discussion. I was commenting on here way before I started a blog, so its like I do it just to spam, plus my blog is mainly about economics – with a few football related articles thrown in sometimes. At least I’m not just putting up the link by itself on every post like you see with other people.

Plus “I agree – nice job” is a pretty boring comment that isn’t really needed, ZM can already see by the views on this website that people either like the article or not.

Maks on March 14, 2012 at 2:04 pm

Sometimes your analyses add something, I agree. But it’s still annoying to see a plug for your blog in the comments of every single post here. It’s not like you link it once in a while, but every time. I think that’s what bothers some.

Anonymous on March 14, 2012 at 2:47 pm

you won’t take the hint… still.

Anonymous on March 14, 2012 at 3:14 pm

I’m sorry if it annoys some people, but you can just ignore it, I only post it once anyway, it’s not like I’m spamming everyone’s comments with it. Plus I get a lot of views from people clicking on the link, so people are interested in it.

I’ll try and not do it too much, but I’m not gonna stop altogether, I like commenting on here.

Henrik on March 15, 2012 at 2:49 pm

Dont know what they are complaining about. It’s ok. You write what you think about the game and thats what the comment section is there for. They dont have to follow your link if they dont like to.

This article will assist the internet users for setting up new webpage
or even a weblog from start to end.

Cogito on March 14, 2012 at 4:15 am

To nitpick, Lahm didn’t switch. The weekend match (massacre) against Hoffenheim featured the same XI in the same positions as today, perhaps excepting the fact that Gustavo was more adventurous today then normal, more willing to dribble and support attacks (presumably due to the deficit).

Also, considering Mueller’s massive off-the-ball contributions and chipping in with a goal without any clear plan of getting a goal, effectively an auxiliary, free attacker, is it even so accurate to describe the system as 4-2-3-1 anymore? This obviously is opposed to the approach when Kroos plays there, who is an old style number 10. It’s almost more of an aggressive 4-4-2 with the second striker mainly playing for off the ball reasons and defensive work rate and an added, intelligent body, then having any designated offensive role. Mueller’s role could almost be described as the Germany response to Emile Heskey (you know, technically capable and intelligent!), as he is nothing like Oezil, who is a modern playmaker, something Bayern never bothered with.

I agree most of Mueller’s best work comes from his off the ball movement, either creating space for others or himself. On the ball his isnt actually that great, but then I would say the same for Ozil, he is a lot better creating space with his movement than actually dominating games.

Not sure I get the point about Heskey tho..

Cogito on March 14, 2012 at 6:40 pm

The difference I was trying to make is that Oezil goes looking for the ball (he appears on the flanks all the time, and whilst not necessarily a genius on the ball, is still better than Mueller by a fair margin) whilst Mueller does not. My jest regarding Heskey was that Mueller isn’t really a playmaker, he mainly contributes to the team defensively and by running around, similar to the role Heskey played for England where his limited ball skills were less important than work-rate and physical size – contributing to the team whilst using the ball in an opportunistic fashion rather than calculated, I suppose.

Anonymous on March 14, 2012 at 8:35 pm

ah i kinda see your point, fair enough.

hwk on March 15, 2012 at 8:34 am

Özil is looking for the ball, and tries to find space to receive the ball. Müller is looking for free space. It’s like a perfect combination, because Özil often leaves a free space for Müller. In this scenario Özil creates space by moving wide and other players occupy the free space in the centre.

Spassapparat on March 14, 2012 at 8:12 am

two further interesting features that weren’t mentioned in the article were in my opinion:

- shaqiris positioning: as you show in your diagram he played extremely central for a winger both defensively and offensively, thereby leaving the right side deserted on the attack (because steinhöfer did not /could not move forward due to the obvious threat of Ribery), and letting steinhöfer lose against ribery time after time on the defense. i am wondering what vogel was trying to accomplish there.

- robbery’s positioning: i found it interesting that both wingers could be found on one side of the pitch quite frequently supporting the other winger and thereby overflooding one side, while on the other one the full back would provide width. Hoffenheim was not able to deal with this on the weekend, and it also created a lot of chances for bayern against basel (though no goal resulted of it).

3rnald0 on March 14, 2012 at 11:26 am

2 Main Problems For Basle and both stem from playing a flat 4-4-2

1. Muller dropped deep into the hole and floated to the flanks to double up on the basle full backs. This was dangerous. Usually to counter this you’d have one centre back go out with him and 1 centre back remain in position without a marker. However, doing so in this game would mean the centre back remaining in position would actually have to mark Gomez, with far too much space for Gomez to work in due to the vacant centre back slot.

Solution: Play 3 centre backs – allowing you to close down muller’s runs and still have enough cover behind.

2. Robben and Ribery often make runs inside – freeing themselves up from the fullback. The full backs hesitated whether to close them down in a more central position, as there is 2 bayern strikers vs 2 basle centre backs who could run into these gaps left by the fullback – should they have closed down robben/ribery.

Solution: Play 3 Centre backs – allowing the left and right back of basle to close down robben and ribery in a central position. Then, Streller/Frei will not be able to peel off into these vacant spaces (left by the fullbacks) due to the extra man in defence – meaning the 2 centre backs can follow the 2 strikers wide and still have a man covering – preventing a 2 on 2 situation.

peter on March 14, 2012 at 11:43 am

@3rnald0:

Playing a flat 4-4-2 is the common way to be successful against this Bayern side. Nothing wrong with the idea. It’s just the positioning of the two strikers that ruined the plan. The only team in the league that didn’t use a 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1 for that matter) against Bayern and got away with a point or three was Dortmund.

3rnald0 on March 16, 2012 at 3:08 pm

I never said you can’t beat bayern playing a 4-4-2, I simply listed vulnerable situations that will occur because of playing a 4-4-2, and there is no solution to these without changing formation.

Lyri Caris on March 14, 2012 at 12:08 pm

Actually, Dortmund played a fairly classic 4-4-2/4-4-1-1, too. Kagawa played as a second striker in defence and when pressing. So, really nothing wrong with playing a 4-4-2 like you said

Riccardo on March 14, 2012 at 2:31 pm

ZM’s analysis of Robben’s movement reminded me of the Mourinho’s “manmarking” job on him in the 2010 champions league final. Does anyone remember how whenever Bayern tried to find Robben with an early long diagonal as he hugged the touchline, Mourinho would be standing right next to him, literally 2 feet from him on the other side of the line? This seemed to unsettle him as he tried to tried to control it a few times. Dont like Mourinho at all but that sticks out in my head as quite clever. Perhaps playing chivu against robben was less clever though!

I decided to help and sent a post to the social bookmarks. I hope to raise it in popularity!!…

Marck on March 15, 2012 at 2:49 pm

Inter could contain Robben only because Ribery was not playing in the finals. If both are fit and starting, most teams will find it difficult to contain them. They form the most lethal wing pair that none of the other clubs can boast of.. usually it is one winger who is good and the other playing the supporting role. Here, both of them are capable of taking on the full backs on both sides, be it on the outside to cross the ball or to cut inside and shoot. Fitness is the main concern with Bayern.. If they are fully fit till the later stages, they can definitely take on the spanish clubs..